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commentary on the passing parade Agree? Disagree? Tell me
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Wednesday, August 25, 2010
RANDOM THOUGHTS ON AN AUGUST AFTERNOON So Bibi and Abu Whatsisname have agreed to come to the good old USA and sit face to face and arrive at a final agreement between Israel and those calling themselves Palestinians. I identify the latter that way because the Arab residents of the area didn’t always identify themselves that way. It will be a waste of time. The Palestinian Liberation Organization is still one of the parties involved. What does that mean? That the Arab goal is to "liberate" the land on which Israel sits? Refugees and their "right of return" is still on the table as is Jerusalem as a desired capital for the Palestinians - a desire that never existed before the modern state of Israel came into existence. Perhaps there will be handshakes with the parties and Obama as there was with Carter and Clinton. But there will be no Nobel Peace prizes in the offing and there will be no agreement. Unless of course, both sides come to their senses - the Arab side successfully persuades the madmen in Gaza to swap madness for peace and the Israeli side convinces settlers and ultra orthodox nuts that there can be no "greater Israel" - and all parties accept the as close to perfect as you can get, Jeff Smith solution of October, 2003. ************ In the same vein, I have a solution for the "Ground Zero Mosque" controversy which is getting out of hand with street protests and threats of violence against someone wearing a skull cap - he wasn’t Muslim. Convert the old Burlington Coat Factory building into a YMWCHMA - a Young Men and Young Women’s Christian, Hebrew and Muslim Association. And just in case the AARP files a law suit - throw in a Senior Citizens Center. Oh - and an atheist discussion group. And an AAF - All Other Faiths adjunct. And if that doesn’t do it, tear the (Blagojevich) building down and put up a parking lot!! ************ I keep hearing that American businesses are sitting on $1.8 trillion in cash instead of spending it - or some of it - to hire people and expand. It leaves me asking two questions. Who did the counting and if those businesses are doing O.K. - as in making a decent profit - what incentive is there for them to hire more workers? And my question remains even if, as some are claiming - that they are deliberately hanging on to cash and not hiring just to make Obama look bad and lose to some Republican - any Republican - in 2012. ************ I hear that Ann Rice has abandoned Christianity but not Christ. Does this mean that she’s about to adopt her savior’s religion? In other words, is she planning to convert to Judaism?? And speaking of Judaism, will Bill and Hillary be joining Chelsea and her husband for Passover or will the kids be joining the old folk for Easter? ************ So one of the John McCains won the Republican primary in Arizona and presumably will be reelected to the Senate in November. The question is - which John McCain will return to the Senate? The maverick or the "I’ve never been a maverick" McCain? The never voted against a tax cut McCain or the McCain who voted against the Bush tax cuts TWICE but now wants to keep them forever. Or maybe the McCain who was all for comprehensive immigration reform but now wants to seal the borders so tight that even an ant couldn’t crawl through. Oh, what the heck. I’m too busy to keep speculating on which McCain will be re-elected in November. It’ll be ONE of the guys who held or now holds one of the positions listed here. ************ These few comments will amount to my 996th post since I began these writings in April of 2003.Four more and I will hit a thousand at which point I think I will stop to reflect and review all that I have written and assess its value as a possible volume of work that might be worthy of preservation the old fashioned way - on paper. I may then start another thousand observations of the passing parade - or I may start a brand new blog of a more focused nature - perhaps on religion or in response to silly letters that the Chicago Tribune regularly publishes - a pet peeve of mine. Or maybe I’ll try something completely different - as John Cleese used to say. Stay tuned. I’ll be back. |